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Chapter 47

The thing rushed towardsand had one of the knives halfway out when it hiton top of ed its fangs into my shoulder I screamed and shoved the knife into its body The knife went in, but no blood, no pain It gnawed on

I screaain Jean-Claude&039;s voice sounded in my head, "Poison cannot harm you now"

It hurt like hell, but I wasn&039;t going to die fro, not knohat else to do It gagged Blood ran down s It gave a frantic hiss and pushed itself off me But I understood now The weak spot here the snake partleft-handed; ht shoulder was torn up I squeezed and watched blood spurt froo

I lay on the steps holdingwas broken, but it hurt like hell It wasn&039;t even bleeding as badly as it should have been I glanced up at Jean-Claude He was standingmoved, like a shimmer of heat Oliver was just asdown here didn&039;tto die

I cradled ainst my stomach and walked down the steps towards Edward and Richard By the time I was at the bottoe the gun to ht hand I stared at the bite wound, and da like a shapeshifter

"Are you all right?" Richard asked

"I see at "

"Explanations later," I said

The cobra thing lay at the foot of the dais, its head bisected by ht on quick

There was a screa Alejandro had Yasmeen twisted around in his ar her shoulders to his chest It was Marguerite who had screaer&039;s arms She was outmatched Apparently, so was Yasmeen

Alejandro tore into her throat She screa his face She sagged in his arh the other side of her chest, the heart crushed to a bloody pulp

Marguerite shrieked over and over again Karl let her go, but she didn&039;t seeernails down her cheeks until blood ran She collapsed to her knees, still clawing at her face

"Jesus," I said, "stop her"

Karl stared across at , but he ducked behind Oliver&039;s dais I went towards Marguerite Alejandro stepped between us

"Do you want to help her?"

"Yes"

"Let et out of your way"

I shook my head "The city for one crazy human servant? I don&039;t think so"

"Anita, down!" I dropped flat to the floor, and Edward shot a jet of fla overhead

Alejandro shrieked I raisedHewash over me back towards Edward

I rolled over, and Edas on his back, struggling to his feet The nozzle of the fla told

Alejandrotowards Edward

He rolled frantically to put out the fla death&039;s-head round The flale out of it, and they ran I hugged the ground, hands over round When I looked up, tiny burning pieces were raining down, but that was all Richard and Edere peering around the other side of the dais

Alejandro stood there with his clothes charred, his skin blistered He began walking towards un at hiood before I backed up until I bu The bullets went in He even bled, but he didn&039;t stop The gun clicked on e hit round Alejandro was suddenly onun or I&039;ll break her neck"

"Shoot hiun on the floor Daot out a pistol and took careful aihed "You can&039;t kill me with silver bullets"

He put a knee in my back to hold me down; then a knife flashed in his hand

"No," Richard said, "he won&039;t kill her"

"I&039;ll slit her throat if you interfere, but if you leave us alone, I won&039;t harm her"

"Edward, kill hiround Richard tried to pull her off him, but a tiny vampire leaped on his back It was the woht

"Now that your friends are busy, ill finish our business"

"NO!"

The knife just nicked the surface, sharp, painful, but such a little cut He leaned over me "It won&039;t hurt, I promise"

I screamed

His lips touched the cut, locked on it, sucking He rong It did hurt Then the s in perfume I couldn&039;t see The world arain, think again, I was lying onup at the tent roof Arms drew me upward, cradled me Alejandro held me close He&039;d cut a line of blood on his chest, just above the nipple "Drink"

I puthi me closer to the wound

"NO!"

I drew the other knife and plunged it into his chest, searching for the heart He grunted and grabbed my hand, squeezed until I dropped the knife "Silver is not the way I am past silver"

He pushed ht hih He could have crushed my skull in one hand, but all he did was press led, but he kept uely metallic It was only blood

"Anita!" Jean-Claude screamed my name I wasn&039;t sure if it was aloud or in my head

"Blood of my blood, flesh of my flesh, the two shall be as one One flesh, one blood, one soul" So broke I could feel it A wave of liquid warertips tingled My spine spasht me, held me, rocked me

A hand smoothed my hair from my face I opened my eyes to see Alejandro I wasn&039;t afraid of hi

"Anita?" It was Edward I turned towards the sound, slowly

"Edward"

"What did he do to you?"

I tried to think how to explain it, but ently away from Alejandro

There was a pile of dead vampires around Edward&039;s feet Maybe silver didn&039;t hurt Alejandro, but it had hurt his people

"We will make more," Alejandro said "Can you not read this in ht about it, but it wasn&039;t like telepathy Not words I--kneas thinking about the power I&039;d just given hiret about the vampires that had died

The crowd screaaze Jean-Claude was on his knees, blood pouring down his side Alejandro envied Oliver the ability to draw blood from a distance When I became Alejandro&039;s servant, Jean-Claude had been weakened Oliver had hi

Alejandro held ainst my cheek, "You are a necromancer, Anita You have power over the dead That is why Jean-Claude wanted you as his servant Oliver thinks to control you through controlling me, but I know that you are a necromancer Even as a servant, you have free will You do not have to obey as the others do As a human servant, you are yourself a weapon You can strike one of us and draw blood"

"What are you saying?"

"They have arranged that the loser be stretched over the altar and staked by you"

"What"

"Jean-Claude, as affiresture to shoell he controlled what once belonged to Jean-Claude"

There was a gasp fro ever so slowly He floated to the ground Then he raised his arms, and Jean-Claude floated upward

"Shit," I said

Jean-Claude hung nearly unconscious in eround, and fresh blood splattered the white floor

Karl Inger caht He picked Jean-Claude up under the arms

Where was everybody? I looked around for some help The black as torn apart, parts still twitching I didn&039;t think even a lycanthrope could heal the mess The blond asn&039;thi co

Karl laid Jean-Claude on the an to seep down the side He held hihtly at the shoulder Jean-Claude could bench press a car How could Karl hold hith"

"Quit doing that," I said

"What?"

"Answering questions I haven&039;t asked yet"

He smiled "It saves so much time"

Oliver picked up a white, polished stake and a padded hammer He held them out towards me "It&039;s time"

Alejandro tried to help me stand, but I pushed him away Fourth mark or no fourth mark, I could stand on my own

Richard screamed, "No!" He ran past us towards the altar It all seemed to happen in slow rabbed him by the throat and tore his windpipe out

"Richard!" I was running, but it was too late He lay bleeding on the ground, still trying to breathe when he didn&039;t have anything to breathe with

I knelt by him, tried to stop the flow of blood His eyes ide and panic-filled Edithany of us can do"

"No"

"Anita" He pulled me away fro and hadn&039;t known it

"Come, Anita; destroy your oldthe hammer and stake out towards me

I shook my head

Alejandro helped me stand I reached for Edward, but it was too late Edward couldn&039;t help No one could help me There was no way to take back the fourth mark, or heal Richard, or save Jean-Claude But at least I wouldn&039;t put the stake through Jean-Claude That I could stop That I would not do

Alejandro was leading uerite had crawled to one side of the dais She was kneeling, rocking gently back and fourth Her face was a bloody mask She&039;d clawed her eyes out

Oliver held the stake and loved hands, still ith Richard&039;s blood I shook my head

"You will take it You will do as I say" His little clown face was frowning at me

"Fuck you," I said

"Alejandro, you control her now"

"She is my servant, master, yes"

Oliver held the stake out towards me "Then have her finish him"

"I cannot force her, master" Alejandro smiled as he said it

"Why not?"

"She is a necromancer I told you she would have free will"

"I will not have esture spoiled by one stubborn woman"

He tried to roll my mind I felt him rush over me like a wind inside my head, but it rolled off and away I was a full human servant; vampire tricks didn&039;t work on hed, and he slapped me I tasted fresh blood in my mouth He stood beside ry I was ruining his moment

Alejandro was pleased I could feel his pleasure like a warm hand in my stomach

"Finish him, or I promise you I&039;ll beat you to a bloody pulp You don&039;t die easily now I can hurt you worse than you can iine, and you&039;ll heal But it will still hurt just as badly Do you understandat me His dark blue eyes were as lovely as ever

"I won&039;t do it," I said

"You still care about him? After all he has done to you?"

I nodded

"Do him, now, or I will kill him slowly I will pick pieces of flesh fro as his heart and head are intact, he won&039;t die, no matter what I do to him"

I looked at Jean-Claude I couldn&039;t stand by and let Oliver torture him, not if I could help it Wasn&039;t a clean death better? Wasn&039;t it?